1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to method and apparatus for picking locks, particularly locks of the pin tumbler type having pins which are displaced by insertion of a key, whereupon the key can be rotated sufficiently to intersect with lock structure to draw back or release the lock bolt.
2. The Prior Art
The picking, i.e. opening of locks, is a specialty of locksmiths in the non-destructive opening of a lock, without use of the key specific for that lock. As locks become more complex to thwart illegal and unwanted picking, it becomes more difficult for locksmiths to accomplish legal lock picking. Not only does lock picking require skill and experience, various different tools have been designed to be used on different types of key operating on pin tumbler type locks. If a lock is too difficult to pick, then the time-cost of picking might result in a decision to use destructive entry by: destroying the lock in the belief that it then can be opened; drilling/sawing the entire lock from the surface/door into which it is mounted; or breaking and entering into the locked area to locate another key for that lock, or to dismantle the lock from the interior side of the locked area. In each situation the total cost of the legal entry into the locked area can be significant, because the lock was made so well as to thwart picking.
Lock picking tools and methods, even those limited to locks having pins that are acted upon by the insertion of a key, are so numerous as to cause their description herein to be inappropriate. Historically, lock picking has attempted to simulate the action of the key as it slides along the keyway and encounters the biased pins sequentially. Thus, this form of picking displaces/aligns the tumblers, the pins or wafers, depending upon the mechanism of the lock. Some locks are built so that, once the pins are aligned in a certain manner, the plug in which they are housed can be removed from the cylinder within the lock; thereupon, the locksmith can encode that subassembly of pins to a key he supplies easily for opening the lock, since the newly encoded plug is reinserted in the lock cylinder. Some locks include a side bar, in addition to the pins, tumblers or wafers which the key displaces/aligns. Such side bar must be moved out of latching position, separate from the displacing of the pins, requiring additional lock picking tools and skills. More sophisticated locks have twisting tumblers, which require both axial displacement and rotation around their longitudinal axis to achieve correct displacement by the key or by picking tools.
There is a method of drilling into a side bar with wafer type of automobile lock, in which a tool is passed through the drilled passageway to retract the side bar, while another tool is used to align the wafers; whereupon, the lock assembly is removed for conventional re-keying. Even where drilling into a lock might be a possible step in picking, the drill often binds and then breaks inside the lock, thus forcing lock removal by another non-picking, destructive approach and then replacement of the lock. Even if lock drilling is not thwarted by security means and the drilling step is successful itself, there has been created a new problem--the removal of the drill caused burrs and bits of metal from the interior of the lock--so that the pins, springs, tumblers, side bar, etc. remain free to be displaced, rotated, moved, not restricted by impinging metallic burrs and bits due to the drilling. A well known, destructive method of forced entry employs drilling through the lock, along the shear line which is at the juncture of the shell and plug. If such drilling is not inhibited by lock security features, the plug then is freed to turn, but the lock must be replaced.
More sophisticated, high security locks use combinations of pick thwarting mechanisms, some of which have just been mentioned, and further employ structural inhibitors to defeat invasive, semi-destructive or significantly destructive tools and methods of lock opening and picking. Some of these structural inhibitors include: hardened steel, anti-drill inserts, especially in the plug; anti-pry pin covers; high strength steel components, including shields; anti-saw dead bolts, etc. As a consequence, the very well built high security locks are not pickable, at least not in an economic manner. This has lead to the destructive removal of these types of lock, when the key is not available. Such lock destruction and replacement with a new high security lock, even from the same manufacturers is costly and time consuming to obtain entry into the locked area and securing that area with the new lock. If entry was to be by an unauthorized person, when speed, not cost, is important, sawing around the entire high security lock assembly might be more practical than using locksmith tools and techniques; but that probably would trigger a burglar alarm system, as would breaking a window or door/wall panel of the secured area.
Because of their cost, high security locks are manufactured by only a few companies and are of a few basic types per company, at least when considering the variables with respect to lock picking tools and methods. Nevertheless, many state-of-the-art high security locks cannot be non-destructively picked by experienced locksmiths employing currently available tools and procedures. Moreover, certain of the more complex locks can be picked only by use of a plurality of tools, requiring simultaneous use of some of them; whereby, both hands of the locksmith are needed and at times a third hand would be beneficial.